Evening Falls at Menemsha

By Mark Alan Lovewell

There is not a better place on the eastern seaboard to watch a summer sunset than at Menemsha, says Conrad Krafte. Mr. Krafte spends most of his winters in Hillsdale, N.J., but in the summer he'd prefer to be here.

Mr. Krafte and his wife, Joni, have been coming to Menemsha for 31 summers. This evening finds them readying for a dinner cooked mostly on their 39-foot Sea Ray. The boat is called Joni Won.

Mr. Krafte has cooked lambchops on a small gas-powered grill on the dock. A vase on their dinner table has freshly cut lilies. A candle in the center of the table is lit.

"We're here for three months," says Mr. Krafte. "We remember coming to Menemsha when it was still unknown. Nobody heard of it," he says.

"It is one of the few places along the eastern seaboard where you can see the sunset over the water," he says. "It is all because we are on an Island."

Among the fishing boats on the commercial fishermen's dock there is the 33 year old Mary and Verna, a wooden dragger owned by Jimmy Morgan. The boat is freshly painted, having spent the week before in Vineyard Haven. The 50-foot boat looks ready now for the fluke fishing season.

Down at the Menemsha Texaco, there is a line of customers picking up sodas and ice cream. Three-year-old Bradley Carroll, wearing a bright pink shirt, is busy telling her parents what candies are missing from the candy bar rack. Customers watch her dance in the aisles.

Joel and Elaine Weintraub of West Tisbury walk along the narrow and winding basin road. Both teach in the Island school system and they admit to not having enough time together. "I like Menemsha," says Mrs. Weintraub. "I come here to recover from all the petty stresses and strife. This is one of the few places where you see real Vineyarders," she says.

Mr. Weintraub wears a Chilmark Road Race 1999 T-shirt. "This is one place where you feel you are welcome," he says.

Out on a private dock, Dennis Jason paints fishing gear on his small 71-year-old fishing boat, Little Lady. The late afternoon sun draws long shadows across the boat and the harbor. Little Lady is among the small dragger fleet that will fish for fluke later in the week. She measures 42 feet in length and has been in the Jason family for two generations.

At Alfred Vanderhoop's old fishing shed, on the edge of the Menemsha Channel, a small assembly of women are enjoying the afternoon.

Lisa Vanderhoop, her friend Wendy Swolinzky and Nancy Benoit are seated on chairs on the dock. They are watching the early stages of a sunset. Each holds a glass of wine. The three turn and watch a catamaran that has run aground on a sandbar in the channel.

Josh Bartlett, a Coast Guardsman, is seated at the entrance to the Coast Guard boathouse. Mr. Bartlett splices a line. "I'm enjoying the view," he says.

The sun is now just above Lobsterville. Mr. Bartlett is joined by Chris Welch, a machinery technician.

Back at Menemsha Creek, near the old concrete bridge, is an assembly of noisy youngsters. Among them is Doug Asselin, nine, of Vineyard Haven.

While his father is fishing from the dock, the young boy is spending the last hours of daylight fishing for crabs. He waves a small crab at a curious passerby.

The sunset is spectacular. The bright red globe widens at the belt before setting. An assembly of hundreds of onlookers applauds after the sun has set.

One onlooker says: "Awesome."

"This is my spot in life," says Mrs. Krafte.